The first half of 2018 saw great efforts of the Vietnamese Government in realizing its commitments to building market economy institutions in the country, especially removing legal hurdles for businesses. There have emerged some positive, significant “institutional reform” trends which are highlighted below.

Charges are the most commonly used security interest in secured lending in Vietnam. As the charged property remains in the hands of the chargor, there are risks facing the secured banks. To be able to efficiently enforce the charges at a later time, banks should anticipate and prevent those risks at the time of entering into the charge agreements.

Since its founding 22 years ago, Vietnam’s securities market has significantly grown and constantly improved its structure as an important capital raising channel of the economy, contributing to improving the market economy institution and promoting international integration.

Registration is the most common method of perfecting security interests. On September 1, 2017, the Government issued Decree102/2017/ND-CP on registration of security interests with effect from October 15, 2017. This long-awaited legal text implementing the 2015 Civil Code contains various new provisions on registration of security this article will try to analyze.

From June 19, PPP investment projects will be implemented according to Decree 63/2018/ND-CP. This decree prescribes the fields, conditions, order and procedures for investment in the form of public-private partnership.

The Law on Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises was passed by the National Assembly last year in a hope to facilitate the formulation of comprehensive support policies and programs for these subjects. This article highlights novel points of the Law.

Under a prime ministerial decision, from May 1-30, 2017, the Month of Action for OSH was launched for the first time in Vietnam in order to raise the awareness about and enhance compliance with the OSH law nationwide, which was actively responded by a lot of enterprises.

To promote fast and sustainable economic growth, efforts should be devoted to further improving the business climate and economic competitiveness, reforming specialized inspections of imports and exports and cutting business conditions.

On September 29, 2017, the State Bank of Vietnam enacted Circular 13/2017/TT-NHNN (effective as of November 15, 2017) amending a number of articles of Circular 07/2015/TT-NHNN on bank guarantees (Circular 07). The main changes brought about by the new text relate to guarantees for housing projects and are embedded in Article 12 of Circular 07.

The legislative basis for mediation is noted to improve and countries, such as Vietnam, have pursued mediation reforms as a response to contemporary demands.